A through-silicon via (TSV) is a vertical electrical connection that may pass completely through a silicon die. TSVs may be formed in a silicon die by creating a hole through the die, for example, using an etching process, depositing an insulating/lining material on the surface of the hole and surrounding silicon, and filling the hole with a conductive material, such as tungsten, copper or aluminum. The conductive material may be used to electrically connect circuits formed on one planar side of a first silicon die to circuits of another die, stacked against the other planar side of the first die.
A TSV may be useful in enabling stacking and electrical interconnection of multiple integrated circuit (IC) chips to create high-density circuit structures having short interconnects, high performance, and high density. One such circuit structure may include a number of memory chips, and may be known as a stacked memory device. A stacked memory device may include a plurality of memory chips vertically interconnected to each other, and to a die that includes logic functions. Stacked memory device logic functions may include management of memory operations such as reading, writing, maintenance, and interface with external components such as a processor chip.